The more we talk, the more the situations and violence, gang rule and drug issues will continue; talk is not action in the best sense of the word. Actual effort and getting to the job and doing the work is what matters once the talk is done. Talk up a storm; the gangs and criminals will keep working right on through those storms. Legislate, get together and “look into” the situations, send people out to “take a look at” the “neighborhoods” and then “make a report on their findings”. Keep right on doing the “studies”, and all you do is just as helpful as trying to find cures for cancer when the solution is to get rid of the chemicals that cause the diseases in the first place.

You can get rid of at least some of the guns and you can be rid of stock in gun makers and any support of gun manufacturers and those who put on the shows where background checks are not necessary. That means, as many officials have observed, that anyone can go to those shows and get any sort of gun they want.

Guns do not kill people; people kill people – that is the saying. It is true. But on to the rest of the topic………

Now the main issues is about “guns”… well, there are all kinds of what we can class as “firearms”. There is the .22, there is the Bushmaster, there is the cannon one of our neighbors used to fire off every July 4 from his front lawn. He would dress in period costume and shoot that cannon off right on schedule. Guns have been around for centuries, and they have basically one use and purpose. These weapons are, as any weapons are, meant to inflict harm, injury, damage and death, quickly and with pain. Death is never “instantaneous” and video games can in this respect be misleading to those who play them.

The idea that death comes to a human being as it does on a video game screen is ridiculous. Even using the most potent drugs, death comes in seconds or minutes, and the person so in harm and inflicted will feel something before the final moments arrive and vital functions cease. In the same idea, using a weapon loaded with dozens or hundreds of rounds is not going to bring death any faster; it will just make the plight of the dying more painful and just plain awful.

So we talk about the gun, and just think of how many varieties there are. As mentioned above there is the simple hand gun many people purchase for home or business defense, the service weapon law enforcement officials carry to their jobs every day as they defend our cities and borders, and the machine guns or “assault” weapons our miliary and SWAT teams use in their daily work. The latter have those high potency magazines these personnel need to discharge their jobs as they can be in hazardous territories where their opponents are armed with such things.

Lately in these gun turn -in events and gun buy -back events, someone turned in a missile launcher and at another event a rocket launcher. I wonder why someone would even want these anywhere near them or their families or neighbors, even as collectors items. I know people who have rid their homes of all weapons, no matter their value, and they feel better for being rid of these implements of destruction.

In an episode of EMERGENCY, a real nail -biter, the paramedics and fire department respond to a man injured when a weapon malfunctions and the round ends up inside of him. Dr. Brackett has to come out and perform emergency surgery on the man in the man’s own back yard as it is too dangerous for him to be moved. The bomb squad has to be called, and the responders note that the man has enough guns in his collection to start a war. Thus the man’s negligence ends up putting many more people in danger – the responders, his wife, his neighbors and friends. Now many people do not have collections that elaborate or potent, but I do know people who have home collections of firearms. I never felt safe around those homes; if people do not know how to properly maintain their weapons they either need to learn or get rid of them. The popular television show EMERGENCY! is about forty years old now but many of the episodes are relevant to issues going on today, and they are worth watching.

The NRA claims that the proposed bans on assault weapons will ruin our Second Amendment rights, but it will do no such thing at all. The ban is on one particular class of firearm, those meant to discharge dozens of rounds a second or a minute and inflict mass serious harm in schools, crowds, malls and the like. These guns end up in the wrong hand much of the time; I can see no need for such guns as a method of recreation.

There are better ways to have recreation, or if you would rather term it, RE -CREATION. Thinking of taking leisure in the view of the latter pronunciation might give you a different view of using high – powered machine -style guns at all, specially for hunting or for some other purpose of causing harm or pain on a living thing.

There is also the issue of mental illness and debating how it should be judged on that basis who should or should not have guns. Who has the right to judge in the first place, considering that everyone is to some degree mentally unstable. No one is what could be called “normal”, and at any rate who can judge or say what “normal” is. Everyone is so different, “diverse”, and individual that nothing is “normal”. There are those who are educated to discern “mental illness” and the degrees thereof, and volumes have been written on the varieties of mental disorders for centuries. We diagnose, treat, observe, maintain, and educate on mental disorders; but when it comes to referencing mental illness with the right to own a firearm, those who are legislating and asking for views from others must be careful. As far as we are able, we must be as a good judge should be: impartial, a good listener, not biased to one or another side or view or opinion, and patient enough to note the views of everyone who is participating in any organized debate on the issue.

The issues revolving (pardon the use of that word) around gun violence, gun control, law enforcement and FOIA cards and gun possession are complex, difficult, and hard to deal with. But deal with them we must as has been pointed out hundreds of times since the Sandy Hook massacre.

And now this week we hear of a bus driver in Alabama that was shot and killed by a man who then abducted a child from that bus. That idiot, that angry, that awful man terrorized others and refuses now to give up the child despite that he is sick and has called for his parents. I hope that the situation can be ended by non -violence but if it cannot then the assailant brought it down on himself; let us all hope the child will emerge safely from his prison and be happily reunited with his family.

Guns? Do we need them at all? Does anyone need them? To what degree do we need them around our homes and businesses?

Deep questions, and we must ask, ponder, think on and solve each one of them.

Jobs, the economy, commerce, retail, the financial market, the service sector; all of these can be used to describe some aspect of our occupation with what we know as “work”. Of course doing work is just a matter of putting out effort for a purpose, a cause, the meeting of a goal. Work is the keelson of our nation, our real wealth in the matter of focusing action and the brain on disciplined activity in order to accomplish anything at all.

Now it is nothing the matter with someone coming from another country and wanting to work, to do something that Americans supposedly do not want to do. Our nation is built on foreign blood and on cultures and traditions and manners from all over the world. Still, there are American citizens, truly legitimately -born people within these borders who deserve every chance to get any kind of work before someone who is not a legal citizen has the chance to get the privileges that apply to honest to goodness American citizens.

As a word of caution and for the safety of women who are engaging in some risky behavior, beware of signs of “birthing houses” such as those recently discovered in California. There women come and they are paying thousands of dollars to have their babies in the United States. This presents health hazards for the mothers and the babies. SUppose something happened in transit from Asia or wherever the women are coming from. Can there be reliable help if something does go wrong? What if labor begins early, what if the baby has trouble, what if the mother has some kind of condition develop that required qualified medical help? Will it be there for them? And when they get to the birthing house, will there be qualified help for them if complications arise? Everyone who suspects there is a birthing house in their area should contact health departments and the law so that the place can be shut down, the women given proper help, and the need for birthing houses and those who run those schemes stopped immediately.

What do these women think that such a thing will do for family life? They might have their babies here but what about possible deportation and other problems? Some kind of family life that would be for those kids. They want to be citizens- come here and do it legitimately, and quit saddling true -born Americans with your problems, taxes, money issues, health and education issues and other situations. Not happy here- well go back where you came. Want to be happy here- get legitimate citizenship and do your part like every good American citizen is supposed to do. You might not be lazy; you might be industrious and willing to work, but don’t demand your “rights”. Like we do, you have to EARN what you get if you care at all about duty and responsibility. What sort of example do you think that just sitting around and demanding what you want will set for your kids?

Americans are not lazy… well, some might be, but then laziness has various and sundry causes and reasons and the like. But there should be no work that is “below” us to do. People for centuries have done “manual” labor, toiling, tilling, sewing, knitting, hewing, chopping, mixing, boiling, walking the borders, trudging the frontiers, making maps, painting and drawing for a building plan. We would not be a nation if everyone was some lazy bum; there are people who do honest, hard work every day and who are proud of that fact.

Firefighters and first responders do their work diligently; in Chicago there have been enough incidents in the past few years to make that clear. Transportation -related people do their work in so many ways: drivers educators, bus drivers, airline pilots, ship captains, makers of the implements these people use daily, such as tower ladders, airplanes, busses, trucks, ocean liners, freighters, semis, train cars and cranes. Construction workers start and finish homes, offices, apartments, condominiums, warehouses, airport runways, fire stations and police stations. We certainly have no lack of hard workers, dedicated people who clock in and out every day and have the goal in mind. From the ground up these folks are on the front lines of commerce and industry.

What is it then that Americans do not want to do, and why would we not want to do them? No job can be considered unimportant so long as there is a niche for it, a need for it, or an obviously visible sign that “something needs to be done”. Do we have reasons for not wanting to go into the farms and fields and pick fruits and vegetables? We eat them after all, so why not contribute to going out and getting them, preparing them for the table, and serving them? Do more than just consume, in other words; make an effort to the whole picture.

If we do not want to be domestics in a household, why would we not want to be? Those with certain lifestyles might require the assistance of capable men and women to make their household run efficiently, especially if they travel a lot, have young children but also have very busy business schedules, or have a large home that needs maintenance. It takes the right kind of person to be a “domestic interior maintenance engineer”. Not everyone can be a nanny, a maid or butler or chauffeur or gardener or good cook for a big household or one with heavy business or travel responsibilities. Caring for others is special; care giving is a big industry and should be supported.

Where does that leave those who beg on the streets for money and carry signs saying they will “work for food”? Laziness is it, or something else? Are they disabled, otherwise challenged, debilitated, or is it really laziness? Some of the guys I see around look perfectly capable of picking up tools and cleaning a park, a vacant lot, or a public pool. But do they find it easier to stand or sit on the streets and shake cups of coins? What do they with the money they get? Well if they are really hungry offer to buy them food; if they are not, forget about it and give your charity to someone who really wants it and will accept it gratefully.

Now if you are in a position to give people jobs, you can offer some of these people work. Talk to them respectfully, buy them a meal, offer them work and describe the terms. Sit down with them and listen to them and what they need. All they might need to cease their begging is someone to listen and to help them over a tough obstacle such as losing a job, a home, or a means of transportation. Listening is such a great tool for networking, and we can all slow down and listen to someone’s story.

What are you willing to do to make this nation better? Are you going to pick up a broom and dustpan, a rake, shovel, pickaxe, trash bags, gloves, a blower, a trowel, a hoe, something to plant a rosebush with? How will you make your community a better place to live and work and play?